- Good news! It's summer!!! My depression is lifting and I am happy! It's been in the eighties this week and it's been fantastic. We've played in the sprinklers, eaten popsicles, blown up the pool, swam in a real pool and just done summery things that we've been missing. Everyone hopes that summer is here to stay for awhile. Yay!
- So, we've been doing lots in the water, and that makes me think of my biggest water baby of all time. Layla loves the water so much and is never happier than when she's wet. We were at a splash park a couple weeks ago and it was kind of a cloudy/cooler day. I decided to let her get wet, but figured she would get cold and be done within a few minutes. Not so. She lasted as long as the other kids and was soaking wet, playing with the spray fountains that come out of the ground. She was freezing, but she didn't even notice, she was having so much fun. Makes me sad that I rarely take the time to let her have a bath for no reason other than to play in the water. She loves that too.
- Tonight (Saturday) Ellery said the family prayer. I always have their clothes all laid out for church in the morning and Ellery took notice because in her prayer she said, ". . .and please bless that my pink shoes will be perfect for me tomorrow!" Actually, there wasn't much else to the prayer, besides "please bless that the family will be good," which she says in every single prayer. I have a suspicion that her eyes were glued to those pink shoes the whole time.
- Ellery has been pushing my buttons lately, a lot. She is really whiney, really stubborn and really loud. She's also sweet, adorable and funny, but it's really hard to see those qualities when she's screaming and refusing to apologize for throwing a toy at McKay. Or when she falls apart when I send her to time out because, in sending her to timeout, I've hurt her feelings.
- McKay is going through a weird pajama phase. He usually ends up shirtless, with his pajama top folded beside his pillow, just in case he needs it in the night. For some reason he is really happy about this.
- Ellery's been going through a weird dream phase. She's been waking up crying in the night and telling me all sorts of tales that upset her. If it's not ladybugs swarming around her, it's that McKay ate all her food. This morning she was really mad at McKay for eating her breakfast- like she couldn't get over it. Ah, if it's not someone waking up at night, it's another, I guess.
- The kids and I signed up to walk a ward member's dog while she, the member, recovered from surgery. We walked Lily four times this week and my kids loved it, although Lily had some rules attatched which made it, um, interesting. The kids couldn't hold the leash and they were disappointed by that, but they still loved going. I was amused that the ground was too hot for Lily so I either had to hold her or jump from shade to shade, per her owner's instruction. Lily is an only child.
- We had a busy weekend. Brian has Fridays off, and so we made plans to play. On Friday we went to the Washington County Fair, and on Saturday Brian and McKay did a "triathalon" and we went berry-picking. I guess that doesn't sound like a ton, but it sure seemed like a lot and I'm tired from it.
- I insisted Ellery and I stop at the bathroom while we were waiting for our triatheletes to finish. She did not want to go, and as I threatened various things if she did not go, she kind of trumped them all when she pulled out, "Well, then I will send your baby to Jesus!" I really didn't know what to say because there were other people in the bathroom. So I just said nothing, and she didn't pee, and I still have my baby. Seriously, what do I do with that girl?
- So Brian is still hanging out in the Sunnyside OR, and it's starting to get to me. I am so glad that he's in the same state as me, don't get me wrong, but when he leaves before six a.m. and comes home at close to seven p.m. I kind of can't handle it. The kids see him for an hour and a half, maybe. He doesn't have cell phone coverage in the OR, so I never even talk to him during the day and I never know when he's going to be home, until he leaves. Figuring out dinner with someone who never knows when he'll be home is tricky. I guess I should say that sometimes he's home at five-thirty or six, but it seems like those later days are getting more frequent. I just keep telling myself it's better than Florida.
- Which I guess brings me to Florida. We have two weeks left. Two weeks together. Then eight weeks apart. Then actually more time apart after that, but at least we'll both be in Oregon and he'll come on the weekends. Then he's going to Gold Beach for a month and a half. Then he graduates in December. Then I'm going to cry (happy tears). Then we're going to Disneyland! Anyway that's what the rest of our year looks like and honestly, after Florida I will feel so much relief. After Florida we'll just have a couple months left. I can't wait for October!
- Layla gave us quite a scare this week. We are such awful parents and you won't believe it, but we both walked out of the kitchen at the same time and left Layla there on the floor! (note: she can crawl) Well, she couldn't believe that we could do such a thing to her and proceeded let out a cry like I've never heard before. It was one of those ones where she couldn't even breathe, she was so mad. And then she kept not breathing. Then she couldn't hold her head up, due to the lack of breathing, and knocked it on the floor. She has never done this before, so Brian and I just kind of watched her for a second. When she hit her head a second time Brian ran to pick her up and she continued to hold her breath. (I used to do this as a baby, and so have several of Lisa's kids.) She passed out and went limp in Brian's arms. Again, I've seen my nephew Bryce do this when he was a baby, so at this point I wasn't totally alarmed. I expected her to come to in a couple seconds. She did not. A few more. . .nothing. She then started shaking. Yep, she was seizing. I was pretty concerned, but also knew that a little convulsing was, again, normal with the breath holding. I kept asking Brian if she had stopped, because I couldn't look at her. I am horrible, I know, but I didn't want to see her shaking with her eyes all rolled back and hearing the sound she was making was bad enough. So I was hopping around not-looking and starting to panic. I ushered the kids not so nicely upstairs and then began to panic even more. Brian is so good in these situations, but also totally annoying because he goes as silent as a mouse. He is really calm and smart in emergencies, but when you're freaking out and he's thinking quietly about what to do it might drive you a bit crazy. So, at this point I was asking if I should call an ambulance, and he was still being silent, and I was still not looking at her, and feeling guilty about it, and Brian was reviewing infant CPR in his quiet mind, and Layla was just laying there shaking and breathing funny and totally gone. It was AWFUL. But I must say, having gone through it with Ellery already, I knew that she was not going to die from it, and so it wasn't as terrifying as that first one Elle had. Still, really, really awful. Finally, after over a minute had gone by, she stopped. Now, I was certain tha it had been like twenty minutes, but Brian kindly pointed out that time seems to stand still in those situations and that it was more likely around a minute. But still, that's long enough. She was immediately tired and then the crying started and didn't really stop for about an hour. She was confused and who knows what else she was feeling and I just held her and talked to her while she cried. We talked to our pediatrician and told him the whole story and he assured us that it was normal and told us a few things to look out for. I'm so glad she's okay and so glad that Brian was home. She is now totally fine and I will definitely never leave her alone in the kitchen again. Poor baby Layes.
- That was long. I guess I'll end on that note.
Happy Sunday!
